This is just another case as to how intelligent hyaenas are.
With her predicament of 3 cubs and only 2 teats to suckle from the mother hyaena leaves the den with 2 of her cubs, preventing the third one from following her. She is then able to suckle the 2 in peace and give them all her attention. She then returns to the den with her 2, leaves them there now fully satiated and moves off to suckle the 3rd cub all on its own. No doubt the 3rd cub is a male.
Today my travels took me to Colorado where I’m staying on a ranch in the blue river valley. Stunning place with the aspens turning their yellow autumn colours and in the distance mountain peaks covered in snow. Not a bad place to be, hey?! Tomorrow I plan to sneak around hoping to photograph elk, moose, pronghorns and black bears. And maybe a coyote.
26th September 2000
Tjololo had moved his carcass into a tree with some foliage and had passed out totally satiated. With no activity coming out of him we hit the trail again to look for other action.
That proved to be equally unproductive.
Back with Tjololo, he’d moved on a short distance but was again sleeping. Then Dale called not far off where he’d picked up 3 lions having just killed an adult male impala. We joined him as they wrestled with each other hoping to get the “lions share”. It’s always quite humorous to see one lion grab hold of the carcass and attempt to tug it away from the others. All the time that it’s holding on the others are feeding away making the most of the situation. We often wonder which animal gets a better deal, the ones eating while the other hangs on, or the one that eventually gets away with the remains.
Tjololo was still resting and we got a couple of hours sleep. Soon after midnight he was on the move. Surprisingly he left the carcass and went on a walkabout for some 6 hours. Along the Kapen river he bumped into Masuli but interestingly they both avoided each other and went off in opposite directions.
When Tjololo got back to his kill there was a female leopard in the area but she moved off seeing him approaching. He sniffed around but didn’t pursue after her. We think it was the Kapen female.
We left Tjololo back at his kill and the Mala Mala rangers arriving there thought he’d been a useless slob all night as he was still at his kill. Little did they realize that through the night he’d been on a 6 hour stroll as well as having bumped into his opposition.
This is often the case when one doesn’t spend the whole time with an animal. One often jumps to the wrong conclusion.
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